HISD managers approve bold STAAR score goals, narrower vision … – Houston Chronicle

The vision, goals and constraints adopted by the appointed board Thursday are more narrowly focused than those set by past, elected boards. In addition to goals that raised STAAR scores eight percentage points over five years, which went unachieved, previous boards also included belief statements around equity, culture and school autonomy, among other things. 

The new document does away with that guidance in favor a vision statement that says HISD “empowers students to become critical thinkers, visionary leaders, and active contributors in their community, fostering a pathway to success for limitless opportunities in a competitive global landscape.”

The first two goals adopted by the board, meanwhile, involve raising the percentage of third-grade students who meet grade level in reading and math by 15 percentage points over five years, an unprecedented leap were the district to achieve it. Miles cautioned last week however, that the growth would be marginal in the first year — rising from 41% to 42% in reading and 38% to 39% in math before taking larger jumps in years to follow — as schools adjusted to his most sweeping changes.

“This is a system, and you have to stop the decline, fix the system, improve the culture of expectations… and then you can move out faster,” Miles said. 

The bulk of the improvement would come from gains among Black and Hispanic students, who met grade level on the STAAR at less than half the rate of their white peers this year, according to Miles’ data.  Only 35% of Black and Hispanic third graders met grade level compared to 73% of their white peers, for example. Miles expects those numbers to rise to 55% and 77%, respectively, by 2028.

During the public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting, elected District IX Trustee Myrna Guidry called district leaders out for what she characterized as low expectations during their first year in charge, and for asking more from Black and Hispanic students than Asian and white students. 

“You all created a district of chaos and wanted (improved) student outcomes, but you’re asking for a 1% increase, and you’re not even asking it from Asian and white students,” Guidry said. “And to say its about what’s going on is disingenuous, because we went through a flood, we went through COVID and not once did we reduce our expectations of students.”

In addition to the goals around third grade STAAR scores, the board also adopted goals to boost the percentage of high-school graduates with industry-based certifications from 11% to 26% within five years, and improve outcomes among special education students, whose outcomes have not yet been set. 

The board also set constraints for the superintendent, which stated that he cannot allow the number of repeatedly D and F-rated schools to grow, that he cannot allow ineffective special education structures to impact the implementation of a student’s Individual Education Program and that he must back up any changes he makes to the district with research that supports its impact on student outcomes. 

Previous constraints for the board, which included directives around equity and communication, were eliminated entirely, as were other constraints for the superintendent regarding teacher recruitment and retention, wraparound services and early learning. 

The vote followed a presentation from Miles tracking student performance on the year’s first NWEA Measuring Academic Progress test, which will set the benchmark for student progress throughout the rest of the year. Test results showed that the average student across grade levels was slightly underperforming compared to the rest of the country, but that students of color were farther behind than white students. 

Black third graders, for example, were about two-thirds of a year behind the average third grader across the country, Miles said. 

“We know that there’s an achievement gap. It’s a tale of two districts, one set of schools that is doing really well and another set of schools that is not doing as well, and that difference in achievement is raised starkly in the data no matter what assessment you’re talking about,” he said. 

The board unanimously approved the rest of Thursday’s agenda before heading to closed session, including the approval of more than 1,000 waivers for classes that exceeded the 22-student cap set by the Texas Education Agency.